How about a quote from Bob Arum who was at the time representing Foreman? This content is protected Just to add context, Foreman passed on a $20 million dollar offer from Tyson because he wanted a rematch with Holyfield instead. After Foreman rejected the offer, Tyson then moved on and pressed Holyfield for a title shot. Holyfield played hard ball, and did whatever he could avoid a Tyson fight but Tyson went around Don King to accept less money than what King insisted on in order to lure Holyfield into accepting the fight. In the meantime, Holyfield's camp in an attempt to cash in on their status as the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion, they wanted to make as much money as possible with minimal risk (at least initially). So they behind the scenes agreed to a rematch with Foreman. After Tyson made his move Holyfield's camp decided that they would make far more with a Tyson fight and accepted the deal since it was on their terms. As you can imagine the Foreman camp was pissed and they sued the Holyfield camp for damages, and they listed in court documents the $20 million dollar offer from Tyson as part of the damages. Braverman is Braveman, and Don King's presence alone may prompt you to double check to see if you still have your wallet on you. But a broken clock is right twice a day and in this case, so was Braverman.
Tyson is in range also and Witherspoon could punch and had a decent chin. He was better than all the guys Mike fought up to Spinks except Larry, who was older.
So basically George wanted to fight the guy with the title vs the guy that had just lost it and Holyfield's camp signed to fight Tyson once the contract suited them. Nothing outlandish there that's for sure.
This is not a Rocky movie. He would not hit Tim anymore than he hit Tucker. Tim is stronger than Tucker, maybe he didn't move as much. But Tucker also rocked Mike.
That's not the only time Foreman missed out on facing Tyson. I'm sure Ironchamp has the links showing Foreman wanted no part of signing with Don King. What was Foreman afraid of? He had his own set of lawyers, just like when Holyfield had when siging to face Tyson in November 1991. Foreman had every excuse in the book on why he couldn't sign the dotted line. I'm sure he wanted another title shot at Holyfield and that's stated in Ironchamp's link above. But there's no way, no proof, stating Tyson ducked Foreman.
If Tim fought the fight of his life and Mike was off Tim could pull it off but more than likely Mike was too much and would beat him up .. Tim rarely lived up to his talent and when he finally got serious his talent had slipped.
This has been pretty well explained in other threads: Don King was the deciding factor. George couldn't STAND King and refused to deal with him. I mean, he even said "I'm more scared of Don King than Tyson". Had Mike dumped King the fight would have happened, and had it happened in the 80s George would have been stopped. Not as sure about the Holy-fighting version of GF, I think that guy would have stopped Mike in 7.
Well it was never meant to be outlandish; it just shows that boxing is a business and that these things happen. However, what was outlandish was the fairy tale that suggested that Tyson had ducked Foreman. I should add that while Foreman wanted to fight the guy with the title when Holyfield was champion, he showed no such inclination when Riddick Bowe was champion, when Lennox Lewis had the WBC Belt or when Mike Tyson came out of prison and started to regain the belts. George's 2nd Career was propped up by clever match making; he knew what worked and what didn't which risks were worth taking. There is a reason he didn't take on Ray Mercer, Razor Ruddock, Tony Tucker, Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe, or Mike Tyson.
Not bad, not bad. Yes Lewis and Bowe would have been bad business decisions as would the tough contenders you named. Admittedly tho by this time George had made some really good coin and could afford to be choosy.
Yes George was consistant. He cameback for the title. He launched his comeback knowing who held it, Tyson. Mike was the one that was shakey. He lost the crown by KO. Pulls out of a fight with Holyfield that everyone was anticipating and then gets incarcerated and is out of the picture for 4 years. None of that was Foreman's fault or concern. Big George may have fought Bowe if Big Daddy was interested. There were some negotiations about them fighting in China. Lewis I don't think would ever have been on Big George's dance card. George knew Tyson wasn't getting in his face. Hell Mike didn't want to box anymore.
Tyson didn't have the title. Got locked away for shortly after. He wasn't interested in boxing anymore and getting in Foreman's face was one of the last things he was hoping for. If Buster's uppercut KO'd him Foreman would launch him out of the ring. There is a reason fighters stayed away from Big George.
Champion Bowe was BEGGING Foreman to fight him. It's on camera, possibly after the Dokes or Ferguson fight on HBO.
And this is what I call cognitive dissonance. George Foreman's comeback in 1987 lasting until 1997 consisted of 34 fights. Seven of those fights were title fights and of the 7 fights, 3 of them were a scenario in which George was challenging for a title. This means there were 27 non-title fights. If he wanted a fight with Tyson had many opportunities. He was offered $5 million in 1990 while Tyson was STILL champion. They were to fight in Beijing. George famously claimed that he was "more afraid of the dotted line and Don King than he was of Mike Tyson" and declined the offer. Then came the $20 million dollar offer that Foreman again rejected, this time because he wanted a rematch with Holyfield. Then after prison, he rejected another offer stating that he won't do business with Don King. Riddick Bowe begged Foreman for a fight on National Television. He wanted to fight Foreman because it would have been a nice payday. Foreman declined. Tyson was interested in boxing pre-prison. The fact that he took on the dangerous Razor Ruddock twice and he almost left Don King because he wanted to fight Holyfield and didn't care about the purse split suggests he was interested in boxing. And he pulled out of the fight against Evander because he had a rib injury. And finally what Douglas was able to do has no bearing on what Foreman would be able to do. Look at what Stewart was able do to Foreman, and imagine Tyson would do.
